For Educators and Students

National Archives at Kansas City

Raymond Geselbracht to Discuss A Boy Who Would Be President: Harry Truman at School, 1892–1901 at the National Archives

For More Information Contact:
Kimberlee Ried, 816-268-8072

Kansas City, (MO)… The National Archives at Kansas City will host Dr. Raymond Geselbracht on Thursday, July 12at 6:30 p.m. for a discussion titled A Boy Who Would Be President: Harry Truman at School, 1892–1901. A 6:00 p.m. reception will precede the event.

Harry Truman’s school records were all destroyed in a fire in 1939, or so Truman himself always said. As a result, the school days of a boy who would one day become President of the United States have always been something of a mystery. But some of Truman’s school records did in fact survive and have recently come to light. They allow us, for the first time, to imagine the young boy sitting with his classmates in first and second grades, listening to his teacher; we know some of the subjects he studied and the grades he got. With the assistance of some remarkable essays from his high school English theme books, we can also grasp something of the character of the young man who would guide the country in the years following World War II.

This lecture is part of the One of 44 Lecture Series being offered in conjunction with the School House to White House exhibit currently on display at the National Archives through February 23, 2013. School House to White House focuses on the education of the Presidents.

Raymond H. Geselbracht is special assistant to the director at the Harry S. Truman Library. He previously served as an archivist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Materials Project. His publications include Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson (co-editor, 2010), The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman (editor, 2007), and articles on historical and archival subjects, including a series of articles on personal aspects of Truman's life and career. He received his doctorate in American history from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The National Archives at Kansas City is one of 13 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 50,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 Federal agencies. Serving the Central Plains Region, the archives holds records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. It is open to the public Tuesday - Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for research, with the exhibits open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 816-268-8000 or visit us online.